North Carolina holds off Clemson
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. » Graduate transfer Cameron Johnson scored a season-high 21 points to help No. 15 North Carolina hold off No. 20 Clemson 87-79 Tuesday night, preserving its perfect all-time home record against the Tigers.
Joel Berry II scored 14 of his 17 after halftime for the Tar Heels (15-4, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who hung on despite seeing most of an 18-point lead erased by Clemson’s torrid second-half shooting.
Luke Maye added 11 points while playing with a stitched-up cut on his nose suffered shortly before halftime.
The win improved the Tar Heels to 59-0 all-time at home against Clemson, including 28-0 in the Smith Center. It’s the longest home winning streak against a single opponent in NCAA history.
Marcquise Reed scored 21 points for the Tigers (15-3, 4-2), who made 15 of 16 shots out of halftime and thrice closed within two points in the final 10 minutes. (3) PURDUE 78, WISCONISN 50 » Vincent Edwards scored 21 points and Carsen Edwards added 20, leading No. 3 Purdue (18-2, 7-0 Big Ten) to a blowout over Wisconsin (9-10, 2-4).
The Boilermakers have won 14 straight overall, 19 in a row at home and have matched the best 20-game record in school history. The only other time Purdue did that was 1987-88 when it also won its first seven conference games.
Ethan Happ had 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds to lead the Badgers. Wisconsin has lost three straight — all on the road.
But they were never in it Tuesday. Purdue made its first four 3-point attempts to jump out to a 12-0 lead, and then things even worse for the Badgers.
Wisconsin needed more than 71/2 minutes to make a basket, and then the Boilermakers continued to pour it on.
Purdue extended the lead to 36-16 before the Badgers finally fought back to get within 39-22 at the half. (12) CINCINNATI 49, CENTRAL FLORIDA 38 » Gary Clark scored 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to help No. 12 Cincinnati (16-2, 5-0 American Athletic Conference) to a victory over Central Florida (12-6, 3-3).
Jacob Evans added 10 points for the Bearcats, who won their ninth straight game.
UCF got seven points apiece from Tacko Fall, Terrell Allen and Dayon Griffin, but struggled the entire game to get inside the Bearcats defense. UCF shot just 30 percent for the game and committed 14 turnovers. got